Ping Pong Gone Wrong

KEEPING BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN 

FOR LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

Avenue A access

A twilight surf session was being enjoyed by about 15 surfers in Melbourne Beach yesterday as the Beach Hugger crew did a 45 minute cleanup.  My camera phone doesn't do it justice but there was a beautiful rosy glow across the clouds, reflected in the wet sand. And then there was the litter.....

Foot where?

Trash bins are conveniently
located a mere
20yds from this spot

We collected 7 ft. of rope and two tote bags full of all kinds of stuff.

Barnacled Bin

For those fresh Florida oranges

Wheel of misfortune

This morning we launched our quiet assault on litter from Millenium Park in Indian Harbour Beach.

Warm Wonderful Florida in December

Ping Pong
Gone Wrong

A gift for me
from the sea

Towards the end of my cleanup, I was making my way back up the beach and looking for litter along the surf zone. I was taking in the beauty of the beach; the sweet fresh air, the calming sound of the ocean's rush and the warmth of the Florida sun, when I noticed something large up ahead that had, only moments before, been gently pushed onto the beach. As I walked up to it, I was excited to see a big beautiful unbroken shell waiting for me. This shell is awesome. I accepted it as a thank you from the ocean for my cleaning efforts.
This morning's cleanup resulted in another 20 ft. of rope bringing the total to...
 729 ft. or 243 yards of discarded rope.


Thanks for checking in with my (almost) daily beach cleanup blog.
I'll be quick
I won't give a speech
I'll only say
Please hug a beach

Pulling The Plug on Litter

KEEPING BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN 

Keeping Canova clean

FOR LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

I shook hands with the President today!  The President of the Brevard Community College Environmental Club. (Melbourne campus) 

 Jay and his crew were out doing their weekly Friday cleanup of Canova Beach at the end of Eau Gallie Blvd. It's great to meet so many people who care about the environment; together we can make a difference.  If you're looking for something to do on a Friday morning why not  join in.  Check out their facebook page for details about their next cleanup.

Even the beach trash is
beginning to look a lot
like Christmas

Canova didn't look too bad this morning but when you look a little closer the plastic straws, plastic chips and bottle caps are still there, among other strange things....

Trashy trowel

Little blue bunny ear

The 'rope report' total is now up to 702 ft. or 234 yds.  It's not pretty what rope can do to marine animals, choking them, cutting off circulation to flippers and fins.  There is an image on Danielle's - it starts with me- blog that shows a turtle that grew with rope around its middle.    The rope cinched its midsection so the creature's shell grew into an hourglass shape; really heartbreaking.

TURTLE FOOD
These guys were all over
the beach this morning

NOT turtle food

unfortunately these guys
are all over the beach
all the time

Pulling the plug on litter

Some of the 16ft of rope
collected today

Thanks for visiting.

 Spread the word

We all can teach

How important it is

to hug a beach

Halfway is No Way

KEEPING BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN FOR  
LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

If you're going to do a beach cleanup, you can't do it halfway.

Crowd-less beach
 South of Fifth Ave. Indialantic

This morning we drove to a beach access in South Indialantic we'd never been to before.
 What a gorgeous day, however, it's getting a bit chilly down here in The Sunshine State.  Upper 40s last night and mid 60s - 70s this morning. Egads!  We (bundled up in sweatshirts) walked onto the vast expanse of empty beach in the glow of the autumn sun and began our days effort.  I love this place. There was a gentle sea, lots of shells and plenty of trash.  Big chunks of plastic were strewn across the sand.  I was picking my way up the beach when I noticed a large piece of something ahead. When I reached it  I was surprised to find a pile of trash half buried under the sand.  Rope, chunks of plastic, cups, shredded plastic bags; all the usual, nasty suspects.  As I was filling my tote bag to capacity, I noticed another collection of trash up the beach.

Leftover litter

Abandoned at the beach

Before I could get to it I had to "offload". Comparing notes with my cohort, I discovered he cleaned up a trash collection in the opposite direction.  It was as though someone had done a beach cleanup halfway.  They collected the trash but left it along the dunes (for the wind to blow around and the tide to wash out).  If you're going to do a beach cleanup halfway is no way.

Shovel trouble

We collected three tote bags full of junk.  Weight wise it must have been over 20 lbs of trash.

The rope tally for the day was 50 ft. That was collected within a short distance from the steps. My total has risen to 686 ft. or 228.66 yds.   There is so much out there.

Rope from the wrack

 I'm learning a lot from others who are also doing trash cleanups, for instance Danielle in North Carolina.  Visit itstartswithme-danielle.blogspot.com. Danielle is doing an amazing cleanup in Wrightsville Beach, NC and has posted some videos about the problem of plastic on her blog.  I knew it was bad but I had no idea it was this shocking.  It's heart wrenching to see how animals are suffering for our carelessness.   I like to believe we can overcome what has already been done but we've got a lot of work to do and it's going to take all of us.

Thanks for checking out my blog.

Within our seas
there's been a breech
It's time for all
to hug a beach

Hapless headset

Hefty haul

Cans in the Sand

KEEPING BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN 
FOR LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS


Beach Hugger is back!   Moving is not fun but it's what I have been doing for the past week.

Chips destroy

 Sunday, November 27, I did manage to get to Melbourne Beach at Ocean Ave.  Not a lot of big trash but the ever present plastic chips were in abundance.
Recently I saw a photo of a decomposing seabird, there was a collection of plastic where it's stomach had been. The problem of plastic is huge.

As I walked along doing my thing a little guy who was about 6 or 7 came running up to me with a bottle cap to toss in my tote bag.  Thanks little guy, you're off to a great start.

Rope was in no short supply; I found 25 ft of it bringing my total to...626 ft or 208.66 yards.

Exploring and discovering trash

Another 25 ft of rope

Today we headed to Paradise!  Paradise Beach was looking pretty good today.  The waves were small, gentle rollers. It'll take another good storm at sea to dredge up more big stuff.  I did, however, find lots of plastic pieces and aluminum cans. I don't know why people think burying them in the sand is the answer?  Some poor sea turtle is going to be digging a nest and beer cans will be flying with the sand.  Heads up!

10 more feet of rope was eliminated from being a potential threat to marine life.
 As of today my grand total is- drum roll please.......... 636 ft or 212 yards.  

I believe I converted a new beach hugger today, a sunny spirit recently transplanted from New Jersey.
Hope to see you out there.

Thanks for stopping by.

I use the planet 
But I'm no leech
Every chance I get
I'm gonna hug the beach

Palms in Paradise

I don't know why there are so many of these
I find one almost every cleanup

Litterous lure

Small Haul

KEEP BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN 

Amazingly beautiful day at
Sunrise Park Indialantic  

FOR LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

What a gorgeous day.  There was a slight coolness in the gentle breeze that caressed us as we strolled along the beach this morning.

It was a pleasant surprise to find little trash to
'blog of'.  Unfortunately what that means is that the garbage has been reclaimed by the sea.

However, today was one of those lazy days where we spent more time enjoying the beach we love; collecting shells and watching surfers.  It felt as though the beach was saying thank you to us today.  

Keeping one eye on the hunt for trash I searched the wrack line for simple treasures and was not disappointed.

Thumbnail size baby conch

 I found what appears to be a miniscule sand tiger shark tooth, unfortunately my camera phone could not take a decent photo of it.

 I'm glad not every day looks as though a trash truck dumped a load on the beach but when it does I'll do what I can to make my little part of it look better.  Along the way I stumbled across 2 more feet of rope.
Bringing my new total to.....601 ft or 200.33 yards, over two football fields in length!
I am blessed.   I walked in the sunshine up to my ankles in warm ocean water. I found some treasure and had a nice chat with a local lady who greeted me with a grateful hello. She is one of the many wonderful beach cleaning guardians of Brevard that I have met during my cleanups.

Thanks for dropping in- it's OK to do on a blog but not a wave-

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving for us in the States. Have a happy one and....


try not to let too much turkey make you a slug,
get to a beach and give it a hug.

Shell skeleton

Some plastic piece of
goodness only knows!

clear plastic is
always on hand

The ocean was making some cool
patterns in the sand

Our small haul

Mini augers

Litter Is A Cap-ital Offense

KEEPING BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN
FOR LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS


Saturday was cool in Florida and it was raining off and on.  We headed to Canova for a cleanup which lasted only about 30 minutes; we were rained out.  AND THAT RAIN WAS COLD!

Fishing line recycle tube
Canova Beach

Rope rubbish

I know, I'm getting no sympathy from the Northerners.

Not the kind of beach glass
I like to find

Not a lot of large debris at Canova but chips of plastic all over and we recovered 20 ft of rope.

Cap-ital offense 

Someone got a present
and all the beach
got was this lousy bow

Thy cups runneth amuck

Sunday we drove south to Melbourne Beach and stopped at Juan Ponce De Leon Park. In 2013 it will be the 500 year anniversary of Ponce's landing on this beach.  I'm sure there was less mess when Ponce arrived.

South Melbourne Beach looked as if a garbage truck had dumped a load on the sand.  We spent over an hour collecting trash and filled 6 tote bags full of plastic, including 3 hair relaxer tubs.  Each one I have found has been full.  I'm starting to think they are from a shipment that was lost at sea.

As we looked down the beach and saw big chunks of plastic strewn all over, it was hard to leave.  We easily collected 30lbs of trash.  We also collected another 20ft of rope.  Bringing my new total to..... 599 ft or 199.66 yards, just shy of the length of 2 football fields.

Thanks for dropping in on my (almost) daily beach cleanup report.   So much is out there it's ridiculous.

There's no sweeping this under a rug,
it's time to give the beach a hug.

Juan Ponce De Leon Park
Melbourne Beach FL

Why must there be
so much litter?

Hair relaxer count:5

I find a lot of these plastic glow sticks.
Divers use them and apparently they
loose them too

Teeny, tiny beach chair

Hard hat innards 

A sampling of the days haul